over on AW:
http://forums.audiworld.com/showthread.php?p=24510469 . Literally 25,000 or so posts later he has been around the block a few times.
More analytical than most anything else I've seen too. A lot of the TDI posts seem very anecdotal in nature, and many make no reference to whether the data is actual miles traveled per odometer or computer divided by gallons pumped, or whether they are just reading it off the MPG display. My sense is most are the latter, which I discount pretty heavily absent more data and description. The link shows that owner found a 10% optimistic reading on his TDI display. That he identified it and dealt with it in his calcs (and VCDS tweak to the display calibration) gives me a lot more respect for that data too. If you search by his user name, he has other posts in past few days with performance comparo's to a 3.0T, such as
http://forums.audiworld.com/showthread.php?p=24512811 .
I actually posted in the first linked thread above on one point that is still a big caveat to the MPG type posts, especially the bravado/conqurest stereotypical ones--conditions vary widely from one part of the country to another--urban, suburban, quasi rural, altitudes, temps, congestion, etc.--and by driver. Not perfect, but a potential way to get at some comparability is to track average speed over a tank. I'm logging that myself, having seen variances of more than 8 MPG in different tanks on the Hybrid. The best correlator I can see is average speed. Same experience with my W12 that can do up to 22MPG on a coastal vacation pure freeway drive with four on board and luggage, but then eats gas to low teens as the speeds drop. In the 20's of MPH and economy well down on any of my last three Audis; in the 30's or 40's, better. There are limits to this of course too if running at high speeds with no up and down (matters on a Hybrid for example; and matters from Euro delivery experience if you run German only speeds over extended distances). Then in the real world, living in the SF Bay Area, we now have the dubious distinction of being among the most congested areas in the country, clearly eclipsed only by LA. Thus, it was an eye opener when I had the Audi loaners last week and both had a couple of thousand miles and a literally never cleared MPG display. The Q5 2.0T (not SQ5, not 3.0T...) said 17.3, and the presumably much lighter, not that well equipped A4 2.0T quattro (I looked at the badging to confirm it was quattro) only showed 19.7 MPG. Both were 2014's and presumably uncalibrated and perhaps somewhat optimistic displays. With a couple of thousand miles, I figure it was a decent albeit informal sample set of Audi drivers in my same geography. It told me both that other posts about mileage triumphs really have to be read with the specific conditions and locales in mind, and that I live and drive in a disappointingly congested area even if I label my specific town as "suburban."
Finally, if you are in the U.S. (rather than Canada or many other places), remember the diesel fuel cost delta (higher) even relative to premium gas. That can take another 10% better economy just to cover the higher cost per gallon of diesel, all arguments about higher vehicle purchase price, better potential resale, etc. aside.
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